Len Andrews
Encyclopedia
Leonard Thomas Alford "Len" Andrews (9 December 1888 – 21 January 1969) was an English
professional footballer who played as an inside forward
. During his career he had two spells with both Southampton
and Reading
, as well as playing for Watford
.
and attended the University of Reading
where he trained as a teacher. He joined Reading F.C.
in October 1909 and was relegated from the Southern League
First Division at the end his first season. However they were promoted as champions Second Division in 1911.
In the summer of 1912 he moved to the south coast to join Southampton
, who had just appointed a new trainer in Jimmy McIntyre
. Due to the lack of funds following George Swift
's spending spree in the previous season, McIntyre was only able to sign three new players; the only successful recruit was Andrews, whose signing from Reading was "one of the best moves of McIntyre's managerial career", as Andrews went on to become the "Saints" most consistent forward in the three seasons leading up to the First World War, as well as being an expert penalty taker.
He started off well scoring eight goals in the first 17 games, before the goals dried up after Christmas 1912 and he finished the season with nine goals, one behind leading scorer Percy Prince
. He was more consistent the following season, where he was now playing alongside Arthur Dominy
; he scored twelve goals and missed only one league game. In the final pre-war season he contributed eleven goals of which eight were from penalties.
Described by Holley & Chalk in "The Alphabet of the Saints" as a "clever and able forward who could play in all the front positions" he was a noted penalty
taker converting all but two of the 22 penalty kicks he took, gaining a reputation as "a man who could hit the ball harder, and more accurately, with his left foot than any other player in the game".
During the First World War, Andrews joined the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment
, where he served in the Middle East
rising to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major
.
After the war, he signed for his first club Reading
in July 1919. During the 1919–20
season he was part of the last Southern League representative XI, playing in a fixture against Corinthians
. At the end of the 1919–20 season Reading, along with most of the Southern League clubs, formed the Third Division
of the Football League. Andrews spent the first season of the new division with Reading before returning to Southampton in August 1921. During his second spell at Reading, Andrews formed a "exciting partnership" with Jimmy Carr
on the left-wing, which was to be briefly re-created at Southampton a few years later.
In his first season back at The Dell he helped the Saints to the Third Division South title. By now the goals were few and far between and, although his enthusiasm carried him through another two seasons, he was no longer a first choice player, losing out firstly to Joe Clark
for much of the 1922–23 season and then to Henry Johnson
the following season. On 17 February 1923 he was drafted in as goalkeeper
for a match at Port Vale
when Tommy Allen
was taken ill; he acquitted himself well as the game finished goalless.
He played his final match for Southampton at Blackpool
on 24 November 1923. During his two spells with Southampton he played 180 games in all competitions, scoring 40 goals of which exactly half were from penalties.
In August 1924 he joined Watford
on a free transfer. He made 38 league appearances for the club, as well as a further two in the FA Cup
, playing as either an inside forward or left winger. He finished the 1924–25 season
joint top scorer alongside Fred Pagnam
with six league and one FA Cup
goals. However, we was released by Watford at the end of the season.
After retiring from the game in 1925, he returned to Southampton
where he took up a career as an insurance salesman. He became an outstanding bowls
player and won honours at county level. He died in January 1969, shortly after his 80th birthday.
Southampton
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
professional footballer who played as an inside forward
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
. During his career he had two spells with both Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
and Reading
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
, as well as playing for Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
.
Playing career
Andrews was born in ReadingReading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
and attended the University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
where he trained as a teacher. He joined Reading F.C.
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
in October 1909 and was relegated from the Southern League
Southern Football League
The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...
First Division at the end his first season. However they were promoted as champions Second Division in 1911.
In the summer of 1912 he moved to the south coast to join Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
, who had just appointed a new trainer in Jimmy McIntyre
Jimmy McIntyre
James Alfred "Jimmy" McIntyre was an English footballer who became manager at Southampton, Coventry City and Fulham.-Playing career:...
. Due to the lack of funds following George Swift
George Harold Swift
George Harold Swift was an English footballer who won the FA Cup with Wolverhampton Wanderers, and was later the first secretary-manager of Southampton.-Playing career:...
's spending spree in the previous season, McIntyre was only able to sign three new players; the only successful recruit was Andrews, whose signing from Reading was "one of the best moves of McIntyre's managerial career", as Andrews went on to become the "Saints" most consistent forward in the three seasons leading up to the First World War, as well as being an expert penalty taker.
He started off well scoring eight goals in the first 17 games, before the goals dried up after Christmas 1912 and he finished the season with nine goals, one behind leading scorer Percy Prince
Percy Prince
Percy Prince was an English amateur footballer who played as a centre-forward for Southampton and Boscombe in the early 20th century.-Football career:...
. He was more consistent the following season, where he was now playing alongside Arthur Dominy
Arthur Dominy
Arthur Albert Dominy was an English professional footballer, who played as an inside-forward, and football manager, spending most of his career with Southampton....
; he scored twelve goals and missed only one league game. In the final pre-war season he contributed eleven goals of which eight were from penalties.
Described by Holley & Chalk in "The Alphabet of the Saints" as a "clever and able forward who could play in all the front positions" he was a noted penalty
Penalty kick
A penalty kick is a type of direct free kick in association football, taken from twelve yards out from goal and with only the goalkeeper of the defending team between the penalty taker and the goal.Penalty kicks are performed during normal play...
taker converting all but two of the 22 penalty kicks he took, gaining a reputation as "a man who could hit the ball harder, and more accurately, with his left foot than any other player in the game".
During the First World War, Andrews joined the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment
Wiltshire Regiment
The Wiltshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 62nd Regiment of Foot and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's Regiment of Foot....
, where he served in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
rising to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major is an appointment held by warrant officers class 1 in the British Army, the British Royal Marines and in the armies of many Commonwealth nations, including Australia and New Zealand; and by chief warrant officers in the Canadian Forces...
.
After the war, he signed for his first club Reading
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
in July 1919. During the 1919–20
1919-20 in English football
The 1919–1920 season was the 45th season of competitive football in England, and the first following the end of World War I.-Honours:Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition...
season he was part of the last Southern League representative XI, playing in a fixture against Corinthians
Corinthians F.C.
The Corinthian Football Club was a football team based in London playing at various venues including Crystal Palace and Queen's Club. The team was founded in 1882 by N...
. At the end of the 1919–20 season Reading, along with most of the Southern League clubs, formed the Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
of the Football League. Andrews spent the first season of the new division with Reading before returning to Southampton in August 1921. During his second spell at Reading, Andrews formed a "exciting partnership" with Jimmy Carr
Jimmy Carr (footballer)
James Edward Charles "Jimmy" Carr was a Scottish footballer who played at outside left for Reading and Southampton in the 1920s.-Football career:...
on the left-wing, which was to be briefly re-created at Southampton a few years later.
In his first season back at The Dell he helped the Saints to the Third Division South title. By now the goals were few and far between and, although his enthusiasm carried him through another two seasons, he was no longer a first choice player, losing out firstly to Joe Clark
Joe Clark (footballer)
Joseph Clark was a Scottish footballer. His regular position was as a forward. He was born in Dundee. He played for Dundee, and Manchester United.-External links:*...
for much of the 1922–23 season and then to Henry Johnson
Henry Johnson (footballer)
Henry Edward Johnson was an English footballer who played as a forward in the 1920s for Southampton and Queens Park Rangers.-Football career:...
the following season. On 17 February 1923 he was drafted in as goalkeeper
Goalkeeper (football)
In association football, the goalkeeper occupies a position that represents the last line of defence between the opponent's offence and his own team's goal. The primary role of the goalkeeper is to defend his team's goal and prevent the opposition from scoring a goal...
for a match at Port Vale
Port Vale F.C.
Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...
when Tommy Allen
Tommy Allen (footballer)
Thomas "Tommy" Allen was an English professional goalkeeper who played for Southampton in the 1920s and later for Coventry City.-Early career:...
was taken ill; he acquitted himself well as the game finished goalless.
He played his final match for Southampton at Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
on 24 November 1923. During his two spells with Southampton he played 180 games in all competitions, scoring 40 goals of which exactly half were from penalties.
In August 1924 he joined Watford
Watford F.C.
Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...
on a free transfer. He made 38 league appearances for the club, as well as a further two in the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
, playing as either an inside forward or left winger. He finished the 1924–25 season
1924-25 in English football
The 1924–25 season was the 50th season of competitive football in England.-Honours:Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour...
joint top scorer alongside Fred Pagnam
Fred Pagnam
Frederick "Fred" Pagnam was an English footballer and manager.Pagnam was born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, and started at Blackpool Wednesday before having spells at Huddersfield Town and Southport Central. He joined Blackpool in 1913 and after a season there moved to Liverpool in 1914...
with six league and one FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
goals. However, we was released by Watford at the end of the season.
After retiring from the game in 1925, he returned to Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
where he took up a career as an insurance salesman. He became an outstanding bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
player and won honours at county level. He died in January 1969, shortly after his 80th birthday.
Honours
ReadingReading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
- Southern LeagueSouthern Football LeagueThe Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...
Second Division championship: 1910–11
Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
- Football League Third Division South championship: 1921–22